#LaVarBallSays
#LaVarBallSays a lot of things. Some are absurd, some are not. Yesterday, he made a few comments that have people talking about him and the hashtag #LaVarBallSays has become popular on twitter in the last 24 hours, when there have been many absurd tweets with outrageous comments similar to the type of comments LaVar Ball makes in headlines.
If you haven't heard of LaVar Ball, he's the father of Lonzo, Liangelo and Lamelo, 3 brothers whom are all expected to end up playing in the NBA. Lonzo is already playing for UCLA and is expected to enter the draft after just 1 season of college ball, where he's a top 3 prospect already. His younger brothers play for Chino Hills High, but have already verbally committed to UCLA as well. LaVar Ball has spent most of these kids' lives coaching them and training them for a future in basketball. There is nothing wrong with that at all. But lately, he has been making headlines for controversial comments he makes about his sons, for example when he said that his oldest son, Lonzo, is already better than Steph Curry. This is obviously not true, but way to hype your kid up. He's making headlines, and people are talking about his son, and that's probably all that should matter.
Yesterday, though, he made some other comments that surprised most people. First, he told USA TODAY that "Back in my heyday, I would kill Michael Jordan one-on-one." This, again, is obviously not true. Not that anybody who's ever even heard the name Michael Jordan would take this seriously, but just to put LaVar Balls basketball career against Michael Jordans isn't even fair. LaVar Ball played only one season for Washington State in 87-88, where he averaged 2.2 ppg 2.3 rpg 1.0 apg and 0.4 spg. That same year, Michael Jordan was averaging 35 ppg in the NBA. There isn't much else to say about that. But again, if he's not crazy (which I haven't figured out yet, because he sure sounds crazy) he's just trying to bring attention to himself and his family to hopefully hype them up as much as possible to help their chances at getting drafted high. But sometimes, he needs to know what to say and what not to say. For example, no, LaVar Ball, you could never beat Michael Jordan one-on-one and this is fact.
He made other comments about what kind of deal he expects from one of the major shoe companies. “A billion dollars, it has to be there,” Ball said. “That’s our number, a billion, straight out of the gate. And you don’t even have to give it to me all up front. Give us $100 mil over 10 years.” Now, I understand milking the product for whatever you can squeeze out of whoever is willing to pay, but this seems a bit outrageous. None of his sons have stepped foot on an NBA court yet, let alone have been drafted, and 1 doesn't even have a drivers license yet. To make matters worse, Lebron James' Nike deal is rumored to be $1 billion throughout his lifetime.
The Ball brothers are good players, but college and high school competition is nowhere near the same as NBA competition. LaVar Ball has high hopes for his kids, and that's a good thing, but he might be putting a little too much pressure, not only on them, but on some of the teams and/or companies who might actually shy away from Lonzo or his brothers in the future, because of the baggage they carry that is their father. He can hype the brothers all he wants, but they have to prove they're worth that kind of money before their father can go out and demand it. Lonzo has the NCAA Tournament coming up, so that could be a good place to start the process. There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and LaVar Ball has proven that he loves stepping over that line.
High school coaches hate when a parent gets involved, can you imagine if LaVar Ball was to go to the press about something he isn't pleased with involving one of his sons and whatever professional team they may play for?
